A place for St. Vladimir's parishioners to ask questions and get answers. A place for spiritual discussion sometimes prompted by and always moderated by Fr. Gregory. Read. Think. Pray. Question. Repeat. Ask a question by emailing ogrisha@stvladimiraami.org or in the comment area.

Monday, November 28, 2016

For some years we have struggled with Sunday morning confessions ending on time at 9:45 a.m. It is understood that those who are very ill/infirm, the very young, the very aged, and those who live more than one hour away from St. Vladimir’s almost certainly cannot participate in person in the Vigil (or come to church from 3:00-5:00 p.m. when we have scheduled open time when confession could take place) on Saturday nights and will need to confess on Sunday mornings. However, for as long as anyone can remember, we have struggled to start the Liturgy at 10:00 a.m. sharp due to the need to hear confessions not just after 9:45 a.m., but even after 10:00 a.m. As we have grown as a parish this has become more of an issue. Thus, beginning on Sunday, January 1, 2017, it will be necessary to schedule one’s confession on Sunday morning.

Is the message here that we want less people partaking of Holy Communion? OF COURSE NOT! Ideally every believer should partake of Holy Communion every Sunday having worthily prepared by attending the Vigil the night before, having read the pre-Communion prayers, and having fasted from midnight. But that is not reality and that is fine. Perhaps some day we will attain to that, but that day is not likely to be anytime soon. We want to encourage folks to partake of Holy Communion to the greatest extent possible! But we need everyone to be responsible, to prepare themselves appropriately, and to make this a high priority in their lives.

Let me restate clearly: those who just cannot come to the Vigil service but wish to partake of Holy Communion and who wish to confess on Sunday morning (and who fit the criteria outlined above in this regard) may do so. We are HAPPY to have you do so. But those who don’t fit those criteria will need to reorder their priorities so that they attend Vigil on Saturday nights if they desire to partake of Holy Communion on a given Sunday.

This is not a punishment. We want to be as flexible as we possibly can – we want to help everyone who wishes to partake of Holy Communion to do so. But we can only do so much. And making everyone who has come on time to the Liturgy wait, and making the live audience on Orthodox Christian Network and the others listening to our Live Stream wait, is not reasonable. And so we will change. Everyone hates change. I hate change. But I too am going to put some more “skin into the game” so to speak, since we are going to move the moleben that used to be at the end of the Divine Liturgy to 8:00 a.m. every Sunday. That means I’ll be there about an hour earlier than I am now. That is OK – this is a good thing for me. And that means that there will be time for Proskimide to be served (the preparation of the Holy Gifts that will become Holy Communion during the Divine Liturgy) and still be ready to start Confession at 9:00 a.m. sharp.

Exceptions will be made, of course. But ONLY in the most dire of circumstances. We are not doing this to be mean, or to exercise power, or prove that we can do it. We are doing this because the present system simply doesn’t work for us anymore. Let me be very clear: you can confess at any time during the week during open time. That is 10 hours that I set aside each week so that we can meet for any reason. And that time can certainly be used for confession in preparation for the partaking of Holy Communion on the coming Sunday. Confessions will be held before, during, and after every evening Divine Service during the week, as well as after every Divine Liturgy during the week. If you are at church and would like to confess, but don’t intend to partake of Holy Communion on a given day, after Liturgy is the perfect time to do that. Just let me know you’d like to do that and we can make it happen as a rule.

Certainly some folks are thinking: how will this possibly work? People who do not have an appointment will try to go to Confession on Sunday morning. Or those who have scheduled at 9:00 a.m. will arrive at 9:45 a.m. Indeed – that almost certainly will happen. :) We will post the list of those who have made an appointment on a stanchion in front of the confessional so that that there are no questions about this. And again – if someone is in a dire need to confess and to commune on Sunday that will be allowed of course!

Here is the new schedule that we will follow beginning on Sunday, January 1, 2017:

8:00 a.m.: Moleben to St. Vladimir

Asking St. Vladimir's prayers before the Lord for our parish family, our building project, and our school project

Please share thoughts and especially concerns with me. Change is not easy. I absolutely acknowledge that and find change difficult myself. But, I do not see another reasonable option. If we all stick together and support each other lovingly – as brothers and sisters in Christ – I believe once we adjust to this new schedule we will all be much happier, since we will KNOW that the Divine Liturgy will start at 10:00 a.m. every Sunday.

I will begin making announcements in Church and on our web site and social media soon. That way everyone – even those who don’t have internet access – will be aware of this change well in advance. Thank you for your support and understanding!

Friday, November 11, 2016

On the 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th hour the "War to end all Wars" ended. Today. 98 years ago. Sadly, that hope of the end of war that was manifest on that day has not yet come to pass. Perhaps it never will. But we should pray for that. Not just on this day - but always. Being thankful is an Orthodox way of life. Today let us be especially thankful for our veterans for their sacrifice on our behalf.

I would like to call to your attention the picture we are including here. We thank all our veterans for their sacrifice. This almost goes without saying. But note the diversity of the soldiers and sailors depicted there. America is a land of immigrants. Sadly, some of the older immigrants are reacting to the newer immigrants in a racist way over the last few days. This is completely inappropriate from an Orthodox Christian point of view and we must speak out strongly against it - openly and with zeal. Racism was condemned by the 1872 Council of Constantinople. We are fully bound by that decision. Not only should Orthodox people not be racists - they simply cannot be. It is theologically impossible:

“We censure, condemn, and declare contrary to the teachings of the Gospel and the sacred canons of the holy Fathers the doctrine of phyletism, or the difference of races and national diversity in the bosom of the Church of Christ.” (Article I of the Decree of the 1872 Council of Constantinople)

Let us pray for our country - and let us be a shining example of tolerance towards our fellow man - both the "old" immigrants and the "new" immigrants. This is the Orthodox Christian way. This is not to say that we should not have an opinion or weigh in on the immigration policies of our country. As noted previously and recently here - this is not inappropriate. But if we choose to comment our contributions should RAISE the level of discourse, neither falling into racism or the other extreme: disdain for the "lower classes" or the "uneducated" or the "uninformed" that exercised their right to vote in Tuesday's election and may have played a large part in the election of Donald Trump. Both of these extremes are completely inappropriate for an Orthodox Christian. Every human is made in the image of God - no matter his or her color, ethnic background, or for whom he or she voted in this year's election.

As those around us lose their minds in this regard let us keep ours, and let us pray for our country - especially on this day when we remember the sacrifice of our veterans. Their selfless defense of our nation against those that would destroy it should be an example for us in our days. If we can emulate them and their efforts this can unite us as "one nation under God", as it is written in the Pledge of Allegiance. May the Merciful Lord grant it!

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

People will know you
are My disciples if you have love one for another. (John 13:35)

Yesterday Donald Trump won the
presidency of the United States. Probably just about everyone is a
little surprised about that. Be that as it may, if you are a Trump
supporter you are happy today. If you are Clinton supporter (or a
Trump opponent – these two stances are not necessarily equivalent),
or a supporter of another candidate you are not happy today. This is
how our system works: one person wins, everyone else loses.

In other words, follow the golden rule. As always...

Donald Trump gave a very magnanimous
victory speech early this morning. He said many good words. Hilary
Clinton gave a very magnanimous concession speech a bit later this
morning. She said many good words. President Obama gave a very
magnanimous transition speech this afternoon. He said many good
words. Of course those who have lost are hurting. Of course those who
won are rejoicing. But our leaders modeled for us the way our system
works. Yes, the old adage may be true that you can tell if a
politician is lying by whether or not his or her lips are moving.
Still, perhaps even despite our basest instincts, we fight to the
end, then we extend a hand of friendship and support to our
opponents, and we stop the fight. The election is over. We support
the winner and facilitate a smooth and peaceful transition of power.

The leaders are done fighting. We need
to emulate them. The election is over. We need to stop. We decided at
St. Vladimir’s some years ago not to do politics. This was in
relation to the Ukrainian crisis. But I don’t remember ever
rescinding that call to not do politics in our parish. We have Trump
supporters, Clinton supporters, and supporters of other candidates in
our parish. But our party is Christ. Elections have repercussions.
This will be the case with this election, just as it was with every
presidential election that has ever taken place. The President has
great power. That is the system we have. But our party is Christ. We
have a tradition in America of a vigorous democracy and a zealous
press. And this is good. But our party is Christ. This post would
have been exactly the same if Clinton would have won rather than
Trump. Our party is Christ.

Our parish family is very diverse
politically, ethnically, linguistically, and in just about every
other way. Posting more about the evils of Trump or the evils of
Clinton does nothing now except promote factions within our parish
family. This does not advance the party of Christ. The election is
over. The leaders are done fighting. We need to emulate them. Now our
job is to pray. Just as it would have been if Hilary Clinton would
have won, or any of the other candidates. Yes – today we are happy
or sad, depending on our politics. But our party is Christ. We must
be above the petty politics of the street and react in a Christian
way – through prayer. Posting more now, writing more now, arguing
more now – this provides heat to arguments, but does it shed light
on anything?

This is not to say that we should not
hold political feet to the fire. Our country’s ongoing political
discourse is important for our republic to function. But if we will
participate in this as we go forward: please consider your words in
light of your parish family. Will you add heat, or will you shed
light? And will you advance the party of Christ, or will you sully
His name? The political discourse is not in and of itself sinful,
but HOW we participate in it very well might be, if we hurt those we
love most – at least those who we SHOULD love most – our parish
family with whom we struggle together for our mutual salvation.
Remember: we perish alone, we are saved together. If we isolate
members of our parish family we make them “alone”, and we will
have to answer for our unchristian acts.

To say we don’t do politics in our
parish may not really be accurate, because of course most everyone
has their political view. Better put, I think we can say: we don’t
do politics that hurts our parish family. This is what it means when
we say our party is Christ. If we want to say “we don’t do
politics” as shorthand for that I think that is just fine. I am not
asking you not to have an opinion. I am asking you not to use your
opinion to hurt others. To think of others and the bonds within our
parish family before you exercise political speech, if you decide to
do so. I think that is the Christian way. I hope you will agree with
me and act accordingly.

Thursday, November 3, 2016

“We censure, condemn, and declare
contrary to the teachings of the Gospel and the sacred canons of the
holy Fathers the doctrine of phyletism, or the difference of races
and national diversity in the bosom of the Church of Christ.”
(Article I of the Decree of the 1872 Council of Constantinople)

Lately some folks have been complaining
about our parish Church School instructing in English and Russian,
rather than in Russian only. Before we discuss this more fully, let
me include here our Church School Mission Statement:

“The mission of the St. Vladimir
Church School is to gather Orthodox Christians of all nationalities
and backgrounds, as well as all those desiring to embrace the
Orthodox Christian Faith, as a parish family for mutual spiritual
support and the salvation of our souls. The Church School, as an
integral part of the parish family, exists to train the future saints
of the Church in their formative years. We strive to emulate in our
lives, and to actively model in our Church School, the relationship
between the persons of the Holy Trinity as the highest and most
profound example of love.”

Now, on to the conversation. There is
not a special place in Heaven for those who are of a certainly
nationality. See Article I quoted above. There may be a special place
in Hell for those who think that their nationality will save them,
but that is just speculation on my part – the Church does not have
such a teaching. And further, nothing could do more to HURT the
Church’s efforts to sanctify the post-Soviet societies in which is
works than for people to somehow think that their Russianess or
Ukrainianess, or Kazakhstaniness, or Americaness, or Canadianess or
whatever nationality they are will save them. In other words, those
that promote phyletism work actively against the Church and its
efforts to bring souls to salvation in Christ.

Orthodox Christians should be patriots.
That is, we should love our countries. Many of us were born in one
country and now live in another. Or were born here but of patriotic
parents who were born in another country. This presents a problem.
How can one be a patriot of two countries? Especially countries like
the United States and Russia, who seem to have such opposing world
views?

More importantly, how can we be
patriots but avoid phyletism? For the purposes of our conversation
here, let us use racism as a synonym for phyletism. I like to say
phyletism, and I think everyone else does too. It is a funny/pleasant
sounding word. And makes one sound like they know something that
someone else doesn’t. Still, it isn’t something most of us say
every day, but as people who live in America we hear and use the word
racism a lot. And this can help us to unpack this issue, that all
parishes with multiple nationalities struggle with from time to time.

Let me be clear here too: it is OK to
have this discussion. It is GOOD that we have people of multiple
nationalities in our parish. This is the image of the Church with a
capital “C”. The Church is diverse, and our parish is diverse.
That diversity brings lots of good things, and the struggle against
phyletism is a GOOD thing. If we were fully homogeneous as a parish
we would not have an opportunity to have this conversation. And that
would be bad, because people might begin to hold heretical views
(phyletism is a HERESY after all) and we probably wouldn’t even
know that. So thank God that we get to work this out together as a
parish family!

I think as mature Christians we could
not accept the following sentence as expressing Orthodox theology
appropriately: “White people are superior to Asian people.” Or
superior to African Americans. Or Native Americans. That just rubs us
the wrong way. We know that can’t be true and thus we cannot accept
that. But let’s switch things up a little bit and see if we can
accept this sentence: “Russian people are superior to American
people.” Hmmm. That is a little more tempting. Or how about this:
“Russian language is a hallowed language and thus superior to
Spanish.” Or Vietnamese. Or English. Or Swahili. Sts. Kyrill and
Methodius understood this and this is why they taught the Slavs Greek
language and culture before they catechized them. St. Innocent too,
in his work in Alaska, Russified all the natives and only then taught
them about Christ. But where did St. Innocent learn Russian if Sts.
Kyrill and Methodius Hellenized the Slavs? Wait – something is
wrong here. In fact Sts. Kyrill and Methodius sanctified the pagan
Slavic culture they found when they came to bring Christ to our
ancestors. And St. Innocent and St. Herman and the rest of the
missionaries in Alaska sanctified the native pagan cultures they
found there. They did not force the people to learn Russian. On the
contrary, Orthodox Christian missionaries have ALWAYS learned the
local language and preached in it, rather than trying to turn the
local people they were preaching to into Hellenes or Russians or
whatever the missionaries were.

This is not to say that there is not
some benefit to knowing a language and culture that has been
“sanctified” by centuries of Orthodox influence and guidance. Of
course there is. But the Church preaches to the “natives” in the
language they know. Period. There is no other authentic Orthodox
approach to mission. And this is why we use both Russian and English
in our Church School. If children come from a Russian speaking home
and have not been to American schools for very long of course – it
makes good sense to teach them in Russian. But it also makes good
sense to teach them in English too, since honestly, very few of our
children are heading back to Russia, Ukraine, or Belarus anytime
soon. Some may be – we do have a somewhat transitory population in
our parish given that we are in a university town. Again – this is
why we offer instruction in both languages. But it will always be
both. Because even those who are heading back to the motherland will
be benefited by knowing important things like Holy Trinity, Jesus
Christ, Old Testament, New Testament, etc., in English too. Like it
or not, English is the lingua franca of our times. Our Church School
exists to make saints. The child in the school might be a saint. But
so too might the child he or she teaches when he or she is a Church
School teacher in the next generation. The point is to make saints
that can make more saints! We aim to make saints that can train the
next generation of saints, and so on and so forth, until the Lord
comes again.

I would like to make one other point
here, that folks often are confused about. That is this: we often get
very concerned that young people go to college and leave their faith
due to challenges to their faith they encounter there. But the latest
research in this regard seems to points to the fact that those young
people who leave their faith in college do so not because of
something they have found in college. On the contrary, by the time
they go to college they are, by and large, confirmed in their faith.
Or confirmed NOT in their faith. That is, college provides the
opportunity - the freedom - for young people to live a life away from
God if they have already decided to do so in their early to mid teen
years. Thus, it seems college is not the problem – it just provides
the freedom to actualize a decision that has already been made in
High School. This leads to the inevitable conclusion that the Church
School and the Youth Group are really quite crucial to establishing
our young people in their faith. This is not to say that the average
American college is a bastion of support for Christian values. But
the challenges to Christian values found in the academy are met in an
Orthodox way, by and large, by the students that have already
established themselves in the faith, and in a secular way by those
who have already decided to live a life separate from God. The moral
of this story: we need to put more resources into our children’s
formative years. We need to model a Christian life for them from
their earliest years. We need to have our kids in Church School, in
Youth Group, and most importantly: at the Divine Services (in a way
that is moderate and appropriate for their age) to the greatest
extent possible. And we need to pray that the Lord strengthen them in
their faith and guide them to salvation. This is what matters in the
end. Not phyletism. Phyletism is a heresy. Let’s concentrate on
what matters as a parish family so that we can save our souls and the
souls of our children, and listen to the wisdom of the Holy Church:
no phyletism at St. Vladimir’s.